Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Scales usually vary in size, the stouter, larger scales cover parts that are often exposed to physical stress (usually the feet, tail and head), while scales are small around the joints for flexibility. Most snakes have extra broad scales on the belly, each scale covering the belly from side to side.
Reptiles evolved from amphibious ancestors which left the water and became terrestrial. To prevent loss of moisture, reptilian skin lost the softness and moisture of amphibian skin and developed a thick stratum corneum with multiple layers of lipids, which served as an impermeable barrier, as well as providing protection from ultraviolet light. [5]
While reptile scales use a sophisticated naming system (see figures), there has been a certain confusion because of synonymous names. For instance, the ventral scales are often called ventrals but gastrosteges is common in the older literature. In more recent publications they are often abbreviated as VSR (for ventral scale rows) or simply V. [4]
Benthic indicators are the most frequently used water quality test within the United States. [9] While benthic indicators should not be used to track the origins of stressors in rivers and streams, they can provide background on the types of sources that are often associated with the observed stressors.
A biotic index is a scale for showing the quality of an environment by indicating the types and abundances of organisms present in a representative sample of the environment. It is often used to assess the quality of water in marine and freshwater ecosystems.
A video shared online shows the scale of these 20-foot-long (6.1-meter-long) reptiles as one of the researchers, Dutch biologist Freek Vonk, swims alongside a giant 200-kilo (441-pound) specimen.
A 40-by-25-foot (12-by-7.5-meter) habitat with enough space for three people to stay underwater for up to a week will be ready to go into the water at DEEP’s UK campus in early 2025.
Water collection has been shown in some rattlesnakes, though the nanostructure of the scales is thought to be more significant than the macrostructure (keel) of the scales. [6] In some viperines, most notably those of the genus Echis, the lateral scales are not only keeled, but the keels have minute serrations. The snakes use this in a warning ...